{"id":3575,"date":"2009-04-12T14:30:22","date_gmt":"2009-04-12T14:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2009\/04\/the-newness-that-comes-from-yo\/"},"modified":"2009-04-12T14:30:22","modified_gmt":"2009-04-12T14:30:22","slug":"the-newness-that-comes-from-yo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2009\/04\/the-newness-that-comes-from-yo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Newness That Comes From Your Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"08_women.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>
\nI preached this homily at the Day Mass of Holy Pascha in 2004 and thought I might share it with you today.<\/em>
\nChrist is risen!
\nChrist is risen!
\nChrist is risen!
\nWe have in past years,
\nat this morning sacrifice of Pascha,
\nlingered over the chants of the Church,
\ntaking each one in turn,
\nto hold them over in our hearts
\nand so sing them with understanding
\n— Psallite sapienter! — says the psalmist.
\nSing so as to taste each word, sing so as to melt each syllable
\nin the warmth of a believing heart.
\nThere is wild honey in the chants of the Church,
\na honey made by holy bees buzzing in the garden of the Scriptures.
\nSing with understanding!
\nThe taste of each word will surprise and delight
\nthe palate of your soul.
\nIf it is our vocation to savour the chants of the Church at all times,
\nit is our surpassing joy to do so today,
\nfor Christ is risen.
\nThis morning, however,
\nI thought we might turn our hearts’ attention to the Collect of the Mass,
\nto that ascending word of the Church:
\nfruit of the Word welcomed, and heard, and repeated in the night.
\nBy means of the Collect
\nwe, being collected together in one place,
\npass over all together with Christ to the Father.
\nOur many prayers, prayers secret and hidden,
\nour groanings and our tears,
\nour supplications and our praises,
\nare collected and bound like a spring bouquet with a single band
\nto be lifted before the throne of grace
\nthat we might find help in time of need (cf. Heb 4:16),
\nfor Christ is risen!
\nOur hearts are set on heavenly things (cf. Col 3:2)
\nand fixed, already, here and now
\nin “the sanctuary not made by hands” (Heb 9:24) ,
\nin the holy place beyond the veil (cf. Heb 6:19)
\n“where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf,
\nhaving become a High Priest forever
\nafter the order of Melchisedech” (Heb 6:19).
\nChrist is risen!
\n“O God, on this day,
\nthrough Your only-begotten Son,
\nYou over overcame death
\nand opened for us the gate of eternal life;
\nGrant, we pray,
\nthat in celebrating the solemn feast of the resurrection of the Lord,
\nwe may, by the newness that comes from Your Spirit,
\nrise again in the light of life.”
\nGod has done two things in the resurrection of his only-begotten Son.
\nHe has overcome death.
\n“Christ is risen from the dead,”
\nsings the Eastern Church,
\n“trampling on death by death,
\nand on those in the tombs bestowing life.”
\nThis, Saint John Chrysostom, made clear for us at Lauds
\nin words unparalleled power and jubilation.
\nChrist is risen!
\nHe has also opened for us the gate of eternal life.
\nThe gate closed to Father Adam and Mother Eve
\nis thrown open by Christ.
\nThe garden of God’s delight is given back to us
\nand at the gate stands the Gardener “all radiant and ruddy,
\ndistinguished among ten thousand.
\nHis head is the finest gold;
\nHis locks are wavy, black as raven.
\nHis eyes are like doves
\nbeside springs of water. . . .
\nHis appearance is like Lebanon,
\nchoice as the cedars.
\nHis speech is most sweet,
\nand He is altogether desirable” (Ct 5:10-12, 16).
\nChrist is risen!
\nToday is the festival of the open gate,
\nthe solemnity of the open tomb,
\nthe epiphany of the open heart,
\nfor Christ is risen!
\nWhat does the Church,
\nmoved, as always, by the Spirit, ask today?
\n“Grant, we pray,
\nthat in celebrating the solemn feast of the resurrection of the Lord,
\nwe may, by the newness that comes from your Spirit,
\nrise again in the light of life.”
\nThe newness that comes from the Holy Spirit!
\nThere is no place here for anything old.
\n“Cleanse out the old leaven, ” says the Apostle,
\n“so that you may be a new lump” (1 Cor 5:7).
\nNo place today for the sagging, the creaky,
\nthe stinking, and the wilted!
\nNo place for the decrepitude of sin!
\nNew hearts and new minds!
\nAnd in your mouths a new song — praise to our God,
\nfor Christ is risen!
\n“If anyone is in Christ,
\nhe is a new creation;
\nthe old has passsed away,
\nbehold the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17),
\nfor Christ is risen!
\nThe second part of the petition,
\n” . . . that we may rise again in the light of life,”
\nlifts us up, projects us from our tombs,
\nsends us out of darkness into light,
\nout of death into life,
\nout of loneliness into communion,
\nout of death’s dark bands into the arms of the Father!
\nRise again! Not tomorrow — today!
\nRise again! Not in another place — but here!
\nRise again! Even as He rose before us and rises in us,
\nand will call us on his Day to rise to glory!
\nChrist is risen!
\nLet the prayer of the one Bride
\nbecome today the prayer of each.
\nLet the prayer of the Mother Church of us all
\nbecome today the prayer of those born anew of water and the Spirit!
\nPass into the prayer of the Church,
\nholding nothing back,
\nand Christ will pass into you, holding nothing back,
\nfor Christ is risen!
\nChrist is risen!
\nChrist is risen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I preached this homily at the Day Mass of Holy Pascha in 2004 and thought I might share it with you today. Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Christ is risen! We have in past years, at this morning sacrifice of Pascha, lingered over the chants of the Church, taking each one in turn, to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sacred-paschal-triduum-2009"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-VF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}